Bartimaeus

In Birmingham huge Christmas decorations were on display on our walk between the station and the cafe. All the wooden huts for a German market selling frankfurters and berliners, but they were not open yet. A skating rink and big wheel were being erected and the signs there said it would open on the first of November. 

Although our train was running a bit late I wasn't bored. I was making headway with my green and blue knitting and into the eyelets section, so even though it is getting longer I am feeling more confident that I might finish the Noël pattern by Christmas., because, despite the displays in Birmingham, that is quite a long way off.

We arrived back in Edinburgh a little late. We had been invited out for a meal at Kenny and Helena's. It was great to have our meal sorted but with the travelling,  and the early start we felt rather jaded and in need of a shower. That helped perk us up. A few drinks, fine food and fun company and we felt much better. I did wonder if we might feel a little green around the gills in the morning, with the wine and lack of sleep, but we seemed to have a good night's sleep and not be too groggy. Shane went out cycling.

I had a walk in autumn sun in the meadows with my sister and came home and did a load of washing. I wasn't sure if a frog t-shirt on the pulley belonged to Nye. Others have the same one, but I had forgotten he has three of the same frog design.

I was doing more of the knitting. However I noticed a mistake I had made, about twenty rows back while still on the boat and I ended up trying a technique I had seen recently. Instead of just pulling the needle out and ripping back then picking up the loose stitches, I picked up on a different, slightly slimmer, needle all the stitches from the row below the mistake and then removed the last row needle and pulled it back to the other needle and knitted from there. It worked well. 

Pete and Jude came round to us in the evening. They had just been on holiday and Pete hand delivered a post card. It had a statue of a giant spider on it. I think I would have coped fine with it in close up, but sitting in the palm of my hand the picture was quite unnerving.

The next morning I was filling a bird feeder and found a huge round spider in the  base. I tried to go back out to get a picture when I had finished filling it but it had disappeared. I hoped it wasn't on me and I  knew neither Shane nor Nye would want it in the house. While trying to identify it, I looked up orb weaver spiders, because it was so round and plump. This one has been peachy orange but they come in dark orange, white and green varieties. It could just be a garden spider it seems but in autumn they look at their biggest, as the female can be full of eggs. Nye does not like running spiders at all but he did look at the pictures from the other side of the room and he is interested in learning about them. He likes all creatures really, but especially frogs.

We went for a walk in the Astley Ainslie grounds on a damp day and found another interest of his, he was enjoying the fungi. He had heard of chicken in the woods, which Heather had only recently named for me. We guess it might be like chicken, whether by taste texture or look but many things are described as like chickens, rabbit or frogs' legs, for instance. We aren't experts and weren't confident enough to pick them to eat. He just enjoyed the varieties and particularly these colourful ones and the tiny delicate ones. I don't think they are edible though.

On a cold blowy day, in stead of an exposed walk, I went into the garden of my sister's new home where it was slightly more sheltered. I hadn't seen it before and was surprised to see a little pond with a model kingfisher. It claimed to be a frog pond and I was further surprised to actually see a large tadpole in it, lying against a stone. It was a long way from Spring. It wasn't painted on or dead as it wiggled away when the wind rippled the water.

Nye has been experimenting with cooking, and chose to make butternut squash and  mushroom (with safely purchased fungi) soup with ginger and cinnamon for an autumn warmer. We have made a few meals or food shopping trips. Today he asked if I would accompany him to a "Witches' Fayre"  he'd seen advertise, that was on at the Pavilion on the Meadows. It was raining when we set off  so he grabbed an item with a hood, a cloak he acquired at Medieval role playing event. It being Halloween he fitted right in to the weird atmosphere. A few people at stalls were masked or in costume.

It was quite quiet with the rain. A man in a kilt and impressive pheasant feather hat was selling dried herbs or plants for infusions and some people were running workshops in making autumn wreaths, dream catchers or carving a wooden spoon. Looking at the timetable there were some other things on at different times.

There were no lantern carving lessons, but there was a papier maché pumpkin on display and neeps for sale at a food stall. We considered them but Nye thought they were all a bit small. This seemed an advantage to me, knowing how hard they are to carve.

He was a bit interested in some of the workshops but they seemed to be cash only and we only had cards. The events are still on tomorrow so there is still a chance then. 

We had a seat in the cafe and he had curiosity cola and I tried some, then introduced him to a chai latte, which he hadn't had before but probably will again.

He agreed to find something to carve. He came back saying there were no pumpkin to be seen but he had a butternut squash and he had the notion to cut the bottom off rather than the top to make scooping easier. I was unsure about it, but it worked very well and he made a funny little lantern. I made another spicy autumn soup for tea including the innards. He donned the cloak again and a brown leather eye mask to greet guisers at the door. We haven't been here for Halloween for a few years and we don't get any guisers on the boat, but we had to have sweets in tonight.